Dara Singh encounter: Rajendra Rathore gets clean chit from Supreme Court
Rathore had been earlier discharged by a lower court in Jaipur, but after the alleged gangster Dara Singh’s wife filed an appeal against the lower court’s order, the Rajasthan high court had issued him a notice in 2012.
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Parliamentary affairs minister Rajendra Rathore
Jaipur: The legal troubles for Rajasthan panchayati raj minister Rajendra Singh Rathore finally came to an end on Monday as the senior BJP leader got a clean chit from the Supreme Court in connection with the Dara Singh encounter case.
The court has dismissed the case against him. He had been earlier discharged by a lower court in Jaipur, but after the alleged gangster Dara Singh’s wife filed an appeal against the lower court’s order, the Rajasthan high court had issued him a notice in 2012. Rathore had immediately approached the Supreme Court and obtained a stay order. The Supreme Court finally dismissed the case against him on Monday.
Rathore told media persons that the justice has prevailed once again. “I was innocent and I am happy that the ordeals have finally come to an end,” said Rathore.
In March this year, a local court acquitted all the 14 accused policemen including IPS officer A Ponnuchami – the encounter case. Most witnesses in the case turned hostile.
Known criminal Dara Singh was gunned down by an SOG team in a police encounter on October 23, 2006. The family members initially alleged that the encounter was fake and Dara Singh was killed in cold blood. The Supreme Corurt ordered a CBI probe into the encounter on a petition filed by Dara Singh’s wife Sushila. The agency arrested 14 policemen including AK Jain and A Ponnuchami in 2011.
Parliamentary affairs minister and senior BJP leader Rajendra Singh Rathore was also arrested in the case, but he was discharged on account of lack of evidence against him. IPS officer AK Jain has also been pronounced not guilty in the case. One of the witnesses Vijay Choudhary was murdered in Churu.
